I’ve watched Obey on CSPAN more times than I can recall. I just find this entire episode is of that ‘barking up the wrong tree’ syndrome.

Bernie Sanders & David Obey are never going to convince John Cornyn & Lindsey Graham to switch sides.

IoW, Obey already did what he could.

ON THE OTHER HAND, If YOU and Howie Klein here were to identify the handful of Congressmen vulnerable to constituent pressure, and start a campaign IN THEIR DISTRICTS, then there’d be a strong chance of success for Obey’s bill to pass.

THAT’s the kind of thing that would persuade a Rep who’s AFRAID a vote to end the war is a political risk. If his or her CONSTITUENTS demand a vote to end the war, they’ll begin to realize it’s political suicide to offer RNC talking points instead of ending an untenable situation for our troops.

Rich @ 169 Exactly….This guy is amazing. His first campaign was incredibly grass-roots. There were ladies all over N. Wisc. typing mass campaign letters on non-correctible manual typewriters and Obey would sign each personally. I campaigned for him door to door in minus 20 degrees in a mini-skirt…Don’t do that any more…

2strange:
Agreed. Dave Obey is as progressive as they get. Obey is the antithesis of Joe Lieberman.

Dave Obey is the ONLY Dem I EVER saw get good & angry on the floor of the House (or Sen) and call Repubs on their hypocrisy, dishonesty, or egregious unwillingness to play by the rules or put forth honest policy aimed at upholding that public good or the national interest. The only one.

A word about how Bush/Cheney’s antics plays in Northern Wisconsin: When Cheney shot his lawyer-pal in the face–Wisconsin Public Radio had a call-in show about the ‘humor’ of Leno, Letterman & other late-night talk show comics.

‘Cept the first caller was a rural, Repub, hunter who went off on Cheney. He was steamin.’ He said Cheney’s lying; isn’t a real hunter; doesn’t know hunting safety rules, or hunting ethics; Cheney isn’t one of us.

It went downhill from there. Remember, these were self-identified conservatives & Bush voters calling in, the hook-&-bullet crowed, angry as hell.

Dave Obey goes on Wisc Public Radio all the time–and speaks about progressive-as-you-can-get issues, year-in and year-out. He doesn’t triangulate or compromise those very ‘liberal’ values–and he wins elections. Handily. He doesn’t pull his punches. Both left and right respect that.

What the hell is Obey’s problem? If he feels like we don’t know the freaking facts, then maybe he should be making an effort to make himself clearer. Those “idiot liberals” just happen to be 80% of the American population.

What I find remarkable about Obey is how straight he is with people. Why play games with funding and commit political suicide, when you can have a direct vote on getting out? And force the pro-war Reps on the record about an unpopular war???

Dave Obey has an apology up on his website, here:
http://tinyurl.com/26g4fd

“Monday, a group of people ..approached me as I was rushing to a meeting and we wound up having an argument.

“When they were arguing that I should vote against the legislation that I am sponsoring, they did not know that the proposal would in fact give the House its first opportunity in the four years of this misguided war to vote on a timeline for bringing it to a close.”

“I am sorry that I yelled at them. I respect their passion on the issue; I wish they would respect mine. We are both frustrated, and that led us to have an argument that we never should have had because we both want to see an end to U.S. involvement in that war. What divided us was the question of how.”

He’s not going to be on the road with Arrowsmith Aerosmith or Clapton; he’ll be playing golf with OJ.

Bionic @ 138

BTW Jack Cafferty just asked “who names their kid Newt?” and calls the latest Newt story a trainwreck.

The day this becomes reality on my tv is the day CNN gets deleted from my channel lineup.

Could be short for Newton….not that I’d name my kid THAT either.

What the hell is Obey’s problem? If he feels like we don’t know the freaking facts, then maybe he should be making an effort to make himself clearer. Those “idiot liberals” just happen to be 80% of the American population.

80% of the American population. Where’s this?

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I could not believe my ears when I heard Mr. Brooks say that Joe Wilson’s “lies” were what the White House “viciously overreacted” to. I really wish that either Judy or Mark had asked him to name one of those lies. I just re-read the famous Op-Ed piece Mr. Wilson wrote. Where are the lies?

Now I read the transcript of the broadcast and miraculously Mr. Brooks’ words have changed. He is reported to have said, “I think Joe Wilson started this all by making a series of sensational and now we know false charges.” Well, it’s the same thing, really, but now I can’t believe my eyes. Mr. Brooks clearly said “lies”, a much more inflammatory word than the softer phrase “false statements.” And, you can see the disconnect when Mark says, “I disagree that Joe Wilson lied.” He used the same word Mr. Brooks used – lie.

So, I have two questions for you. Why do you let David Brooks get away misrepresenting the case? What has he got on you guys that you can’t challenge such an obvious ‘false statement’? (That’s one question in two parts.) Second, why did you change his words? Again, what does Brooks have on The News Hour that they kow-tow to him so obviously?

Well, I know what the answer is. Brooks is the best the right wing can do. That’s really sad, isn’t it? Your former hero David Gergen has just said that the Bush administration was pretty much scandal-free until Scooter was convicted. These guys are drowning in denial.
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